Vaudeville apparatus.



J. E. NICHOLSON. VAUDEVILLE APPARATUS. APPLIQATION FILED AUG. 17, 1910.

984,01 9., Patented Feb. 14, 1911.

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JOHN E. NICHOLSON, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ACSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO M. R.SKILLIVIAN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

VAUIDEVILLE APPARATUS.

seams.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. NiorioLsoN, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and resident of Cincinnati, county of Hamilton, State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VaudevilleApparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is an appara tus, the stand of which is to belocated upon a vaudeville stage, and which is to have a means ofcarrying the vaudeville performer out above the heads of an audience,and a means of moving the performer from one place to the other and ofchanging his position relative to the audience. The opera tion is to beperformed in a darkened house, with a light thrown upon the vaudevilleperformer, thereby giving him the appearance of walking unsupportedthrough the air. This object is attained by the means described in thespecification, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying my invention,the shaft and the cables being partially broken away, and the ends beingbrought together to economize space. Fig. 2 is a sectional view of thepipe or shafting and the band for holding the performer, the actuatingrod being shown in elevation and the parts being broken out, and theends being brought together. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of theband, showing the manner of engaging it about the waist of theperformer. Fig. 4 is a detail view of the end of the shaft and the platewhich couples the band to the shaft. Fig. 5 is a detail view upon amuchenlarged scale of the band.

Referring to the parts: Stand A has standards a, a, which support ahorizontal rod 13, upon which a truck D is mounted by means of Wheels dcl. Truck D has a chain d which supports a collar 6, within which a pipeE is reciprocably mounted. Within pipe E a second pipe E is reeiprocablymounted in suitable bearings G, which are provided within the pipe E,and are located at intervals along it. Within pipe E an actuating rod Eis rotatably mounted. A collar 6 is mounted on the outer end of the pipeE by means of a pin 7, which extends through the collar and the pipe. Aplate 6 is secured to the outer end of the collar by Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed. August 17, 1910.

Patented Feb. it, 1911.

Serial No. 577,650.

any suitable means, such for example as rivets 8, which extend throughthe plate and a flange formed on the collar which has the same amount ofcurvature as band F and is adapted to slide between flanges of band E,which is to be placed around the performers waist. Band F has flanges Fand F the latter of which terminates in teeth f, which mesh with theteeth of a pinion 6 The pinion e is suitably mounted on the outer end ofthe rod T2 and is located within the collar 6. A slot 9 is provided inthe collar, so that a portion of the pinion e is exposed, for thepurpose of meshing with the teeth f, formed on the flange F. The outerend of the rod E projects a short dis tance through the plate 6 and isjournaled in the plate, so as to provide a bearing immediately adjacentto the pinion.

By means of the sliding pipes, E, E, the performer may be projected outabove the heads of the audience, and by rotating the rod E the ring Fmay be caused to rotate,- and thus to,turn the performer in anydirection desired. The pipes E are made preferably in sections, one ofwhich is screwed into the other, leaving the exterior of the pipesmooth, as illustrated in Fig. 2. The ends of the separate sections ofthe pipe E form the bearing for the rod E and are indicated by G on thedrawings. The pipe E has a cable 6 attached near its ends, which passesover pulleys mounted upon the upper ends of the standards a. The outerend of the pipe E has attached to it a cable 6 which is wound about ashaft A, which is mounted between the standard a, and has upon its end acrank A The piping may be pushed outward, so as to project the performerabove the heads of the audience, by an attendant located at the end ofthe piping adjacent to the crank 6 since the pipe E is reciprocablymounted in the pipe E, and the pipe E is slidably mounted within thecollar 6, and the truck D is reciprocably mounted on the horizontal rod13. Inasmuch as the apparatus is designed to support a comparativelylight performer, the operator at the crank end of the pipe, E, mayemploy his own weight in counterbalancing the weight of the performer,or he may employ the weight of additional as sistants, or he may allowthe rod to bear against the apex formed by the standards, a, a. Thisattendant likewise may operate the crank 0 for the purpose of turningthe performer in either direction desired. The crank A may be turned forre-turning the performer to the stage.

For the purpose of swinging the performer from one side of the house tothe other, the frame is provided with casters a so that the attendantmay swing the performer to any position 011 the stage. Upon the platformof the stand, weights Gr may be placed to counter-balance the weight ofthe performer.

The band F is made of sheet .metal, and is split at and provided on theedges with overlapping lugs f 7 and f", which are perforated to receivescrews. By the removal of the screws, the band may be opened outsu'liiciently to permit the performer to step within the band and todraw it up over his body to a position around his waist. The screwswould then be screwed in place, to hold the band about him, and straps Fand I, which are attached to the band, would be utilized to secure theband from slipping upward on his body.

\Vhat I claim is:-

1. In a device of the character described a frame, a shaft reciprocablymounted on said frame, a band for supporting a performer mounted 011said shaft, and means for rotating said band about an axis perpendicularto the axis of said shaft.

2. In a device of the character described, a frame, a shaft reciprocablymounted on said frame, a band for supporting a performer rotatablymounted 011 said shaft, an actuating rod, andmeans actuated by said rodfor rotating said band about an axis perpendicular to the axis of saidshaft. v

3. In a device of the character described, the combination of a frame, ahollow shaft reciprocably mounted on said frame, a plate mounted on theouter end of saidshaft, a band having a turned-down flange adapted toengage said plate and a series of teeth, an actuating rod located withinsaid shaft, and a pinion mounted on the outer end of said rod andengaging the teeth of said band.

4. In a device of the character described, the combination of a frame, arod supported by said frame, a truck reciprocably mounted on said rod, acollar carried by said truck, a hollow shaft slidably mounted withinsaid collar, a band rotatably mounted on said shaft, an actuating rodrotatably mounted within said shaft,a pinion mounted on the end of saidrod, engaging teeth on said band, for the purpose of rotating said bandabout an axis perpendicular to the axis of said shaft.

JOHN E. NICHOLSON. lVitnesses M. ZARTH, WALTER F. MURRAY.

